How to Write a Compelling Maximum Ride FanFiction
by UnbrokenSilences
Summary: Tips, advice, and guidelines for writing a Maximum Ride FanFiction people will want to read and review. Suggestions welcome.
1. Introduction

**Introduction: First Impressions**

For those of you that don't know me, I'm **Bluejaygrl98**. I'm a FanFiction author who is obsessed with Maximum Ride.

Lately, I've noticed some things. Okay, I've always noticed them, but they haven't really _affected_ me, you know?

Anyhow, I've noticed that there are some 380+ pages of Maximum Ride FanFiction in the FanFiction Archive. And after scrolling down, and down, and down (thank God for Google Chrome), I've realized two things.

One, that more than half of the FanFictions are loads of crap.

Two, that some people out there need some help.

I'm NOT saying that I'm, oh, this experienced author who is a know-it-all about FanFiction. I'm trying to help.

Look, who wants to waste time clicking on a story only to find that it's total and utter worthless crap? I certainly don't. You know how? No, I'm not psychic, unfortunately. But there are two things that really determine whether or not a story gets read.

One, the title makes sense, is compelling, and is capitalized.

Two, there is a summary with good grammar and is accurate and adequate.

I know some of you suck at summaries. Personally, the idea of a summary is a bad idea unless you're the type of author who types up everything first, and _then_ you post chapters each week, because if you write one chapter each week or whatever, then how are you supposed to know the plot beforehand? How can you _summarize a story when you don't even know how the story goes?_

But you _still need to come up with something good!_ First impressions matter a lot. If you see a guy with crooked teeth, bad posture, and overall shabby appearance, you're not going to go flirt with him, even if he has the most charming personality of a guy you'll ever meet. But if he's nicely dressed, carries himself with confidence, and has a nice smile, sure! Why not take a chance?

So, here's an ideal example of a title and summary to help you get your stories read and reviewed:

**Title: **Maximum Ride's Ultimate Ride

**Summary: **Six mutants are about to have the ultimate ride of their life when a competition is started by the white-coats by introducing a new breed of mutants—the Pack. Who can save the world first? The Pack or the Flock? Read to find out!

If I saw something like that, I'd definitely read it. Why? Everything is correctly spelled with good grammar, and the summary is intriguing! I'm not your language arts teacher, but come on. At least _try_ to capitalize your title and _try_ to incorporate correct punctuation into your summary!

Here's a story that I would not read:

**Title: **fax fax fax read!!!

**Summary: **please read!!! mang/fax all that good stuff. review! I suck at summaries!

I mean, jeez. There's a billion wrong stuff in that. The title, 'fax fax fax read!!!' is super vague and not at all compelling. If you want to mention that there's Fax in the story, put it in the summary. And the 'read!!!' part is just plain desperate. The summary is even worse. The first part is really desperate, the second sentence is, again, super vague, the 'review!' is again, really desperate, and the 'I suck at summaries' just makes me shake my head in disgust.

So the secret to getting at least, your first chapter _looked_ at? Have a good title and a good summary.

Please, guys. Don't do this to us. We don't need to have 380+ pages of FanFiction and over half of them just plain crap! We want to read good stories. If you're going to write a story, at least make an effort to make it presentable. If you really don't have a good story, and you _know_ it, then don't post it. Do you like to pick through garbage? Nope? Then how do you think _other people_ feel when they get on FanFiction and have to look for hours until they find a half-decent story? Exactly!

Today's introduction is just a brief overview about first impressions. The big stuff is yet to come.

I'm not trying to insult people's work. You all have great potential, but in order to write something people want to read, you need to make it _look_ like something people ned to read.

If you are a budding FanFic author who needs help with grammar or editing, feel free to PM me and I can help you with your title or summary.

The next chapter will be about how to get inspiration.

Thanks so much,

--Bluejaygrl98

**A/N: Please R&R with your reactions/responses! Please, no flames, but suggestions for more topics you'd like covered are welcomed. **


	2. Chapters 1 and 2

**Ooh! Double chapter this week (I had to put them together because chapter one was way too short). Thanks to all my seven reviewers. Keep it up!**

CHAPTER ONE: GETTING INSPIRED

Ah, one of the fickle aspects of writing. Writing isn't a leaky faucet. It isn't dripping 24/7. Writing is a long corridor with closed French doors at the end **(A/N: Sorry, I just really love French doors. :D)**. Sometimes the door opens and the light floods in, sometimes you rack your brain and you try every key you have but nope—the door remains closed.

So how do we get inspired?

There's various ways. Personally, what I do is I get online and read. I read tons and tons of FanFictions first (good ones with good summaries and good titles) and I get all worked up in a "Write Maximum Ride FanFiction Mood." Then, I have ideas—ooh, I liked that story. Hmm, perhaps I can write something like that. Or, that story's really good. I'm in a writing mood now.

That's just me, however. You may have your own way of getting inspired. Maybe you see a bird outside, and the way it's delicately perching on a branch, and your mind snaps to Maximum Ride, and you say, "I just got inspired." Or, you're listening to a heartbreaking song by Flyleaf, say, and you think of damn Fang leaving Max, and you say, "There you go. The lightbulb just lit."

Inspiration is one of the most important elements in writing. In order to get your brain churning, you need to get an idea first, which is where inspiration steps in. Inspiration may also be known as a _muse_.

CHAPTER TWO: CREATING A PLOT

Who likes plotless writing?

Certainly not me. I mean, sure, if you want to do a lovey-dovey one-shot, fine by me (chapter three will be about one-shots, in case you were wondering.), but otherwise, _plan beforehand!_ Don't be like some people and write, freaking _in your summary_: **please read! I don't know where this story will go, but**—and that's enough to stop me from reading a perhaps perfectly good story. Have confidence in your writing. Even though you may be the lousiest writer on earth (not saying you are, because you certainly aren't), lift your chin in the air and say, "Deal with it."

Ah, so where was I? Oh, yes—plots. How to create a plot? Some people actually create an outline, but I do it in my head. An outline on the computer might look like this:

**Max and Fang have an argument. **

**Fang leaves.**

**Max chases after him, but gets caught by Erasers.**

**After a few days, Fang realizes his mistake and he flies back only to find that the flock is looking for Max. He joins them in their search.**

**They find Max bleeding in the forest.**

**They try to revive Max, but a) she dies or b) she survives.**

**If a): she dies, and Fang gets depressed, and kills himself.**

**If b): she survives, and she and Fang promise to never fight again.**

See? Short, and to the point. Of course, the actual story will be mucho more descriptive and not in sentence fragments, but this is just a rough draft.

When I brainstorm in my head, this is what it looks like:

**Max Fang argument leaves Erasers mistake flock search bleeding forest revives dies/survives depression promise never again**

Confusing, right? To you, maybe, but to me, it's perfect sense. Crystalline clear.

If you want a RIP (Random Interesting Plot), which is basically a plot with lots of twists and turns, the outline should look more like this:

**Max and Fang have an argument**

**Fang apologizes **_**then **_**leaves**

**Max chases, comes super close **_**then**_** gets caught by Erasers**

**Fang goes back to help the flock **_**but**_** gets rejected**

**Pleads his case; gets accepted only for help**

**Look for Max, almost give up **_**but**_** then find her limp, dying body on a beach**

**Brings her to a hospital, heals **_**but**_** dies afterwards**

**Flock mourns**

The _italicized_ words are the 'twist' words; cut off the rest of the twist-phrase for a non-random plot (no twists/turns). Outlining in my head for RIP's are even more confusing:

**Max Fang argument apologizes leaves chases close Erasers flock rejection pleads accepted search give up find dying hospital heals dies mourns**

If you like to organize everything so that you'll never lose track of wherever you go, feel free to create an outline. I personally just "go with the flow", but that's just me.

Also, some people write entire FanFictions before they publish anything, and then they weekly post a chapter to get reviews without the hassle of writing quickly to meet demands. This way _is_ recommended, though I myself do not have the patience or the time. If you prefer writing it as you go, you may do it that way as well, which is how I do it.

The next chapter will be about one-shots. Below is some tips recommended by UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND:

--Don't make your characters Mary-Sues (boring)

--Try to avoid cliches (if you have to do one, but a creative twist on it)

--Don't have characters be OOC unless you meant them to be that way, like in a parody (like, for example, if somehow they mad Ari show up, don't make them accept him immediately, be suspicious that he's a clone or some yadda yadda like that) **A/N: If you make your characters OOC, make sure to make a side note in your chapters or in your summary to prevent snobbish, picky people from saying, "Oh, so-and-so was out of character".**

--Number one thing: DON'T MAKE IT ANYTHING LIKE FANG! (heartbreaking) **A/N: **_**Unless**_** you make a note in your summary so that people who don't like heartbreaking stories won't have to read it. **

Thanks, UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND. Remember, suggestions are always welcome!


	3. Chapters 3, 4, and 5

**Thanks to all my reviewers who offered tips, compliments, or support! It really means a lot to me! :D Triple chapter this time. Whoot! **

CHAPTER THREE: ONESHOTS

One-shots are great, in my opinion. You don't have to have the discipline to write and write and write each week to try to fulfill the demand for updates and new chapters, and yet you can pack a lot of emotion into a one-shot. Funny, sad, romantic...you name it.

When writing a one-shot, don't just throw something together, just cause it's called a _one-shot_. It has to have a plot; a short plot, but a plot nonetheless. When I write one-shots, the words just kinda flow out, and make a story of their own. **(A/N: Check out my profile and my one-shots if you haven't already! And R&R, obviously.)** I like one-shots because it gives me a lot of wiggle-room. For example, _Seeing Red_ was a spur of the moment idea I had. I just _had_ to get it out of my system—but I couldn't think of anything to put into another chapter! It just—came out, funny and all. _Seeing Black_ was an idea I'd had for a while, but didn't know how to make it into a story form.

Don't be picky with a one-shot. Don't spend hours and hours editing it, and whatever. Just let it come out!

Two-to-ten-shots are also perfectly acceptable. Anything more than a ten-shot, I consider a story. If you write a two-shot, and from the reviews you get and the general response, and you _do_ have an idea in your head, go on ahead—indulge yourself (and your readers!) with another chapter. But don't drag it on forever.

CHAPTER FOUR: STAYING IN CHARACTER

Okay, so here's the situation. You've got a book, and an idea for a Fanfiction, and a plot, obviously. You've got the characters that came with the book. So how do you make them—_them_?

You're not James Patterson (or at least, I hope you're not...if not, hi! I'm Bluejaygrl98. Your series rocks. Why did you friggin' send Fang away, though?! Sorry. That was a little rant there. On with the story!), so it's perfectly fine if Max isn't completely, utterly, 100% Max-like, or Gazzy isn't completely, utterly, 100% stinky. (Sorry, Gazzy!) But try—_try_ to maintain at least a decent level of _them_-ness.

For example, Fang isn't a total romantic. Max isn't a total girly-girl. **(A/N: This was courtesy of CrazyNerdyFangirl. Thanks for R&Ring and offering your suggestion!)** But that doesn't mean you can't have kissing scenes, or Max getting dressed up all schmancy for a date.

How do you get in character?

It's very simple. Read Fanfics. Read Maximum Ride novels. Repeat.

Yup. That's how I do it. And my sarcastic sense of humor and wit helps, too. *winks*.

If you're doing an AU Fanfic (see chapter five), the cliché is always that Fang is this drug-dealer, or a dark, menacing high-schooler that has girls flinging themselves at him left and right, sure. What the h-e-double toothpicks (I love that expression!), it's _your_ alternate universe. Make 'em as you please. But don't _always_ do AU's like that. It really does get tiring.

CHAPTER FIVE: ALTERNATE UNIVERSES

There is nothing wrong with AU's. Sometimes, reading an AU Fanfic is refreshing—instead of the whole 'save the world' slogan, it's more like 'save Max and Fang from the gangs and the social barriers that threaten to tear them apart' stuff.

I can't really offer you many tips about AU's, partly because I've never done one, and partly because it's really up to you. Again, use good grammar and spelling with AU's, have a plot, make the characters consistent, etc.

For those of you people who don't know what AU's are, it's basically taking the characters in a story, and rewriting them into a different world. I.E. no wings, in high school, etc.

Some people flame really—I mean, _really_ badly on AU's. I was reading this one AU Fanfic, and I opened the reviews, and a bunch of people were all like, "Why the fucking hell is Fang just a fucking dumbass?" or "This story is shit." And I'm just like, "Whoa, gents. _You_ try writing an AU Fanfic, while maintaining a degree of same-characters, a plot, and good writing mechanics. And without your little cussy fests, either. Uh-huh. See. You can't. So just shut the fuck up and stop flaming!"

Don't take flames to heart (chapter six will be about reviews and dealing with flames, incidentally). Shrug 'em off, and don't flame back. Flame wars—especially between people who don't even, hell, _know each other_, get really ugly over the Internet. Don't feel like a wimp if you feel bad when someone insults your writing. Sure, why not tell the person what's on your mind. But don't shove stuff in their face, like, "Shut up you bitch. You're such a ..." I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Whoa. I strayed off topic there. From AU's to flames, huh. Wow.

**A/N: R&R with your comments, questions, concerns, and suggestions! It's my spring break, so hopefully updates will come quicker. Below are some reviews by some of my mucho awesome readers and reviewers! *hands over invisible cookies* Do ya wanna be like them? Then review!**

love Flyleaf! And I agree with you. When an author says "I don't know where

this is going", I dont read the story. Can I suggest something that you should

tell your readers? When writing a Fax story, make sure that Max doesn't act

TOO girly and Fang doesn't act TOO romantic. That is way OOC. I've read so

many of those and have gone WTF because they would never act like that,

especially in public. I love good Fax fluff, but PLEASE try to keep them in

character. Oh, and if someone wants to add themselves into a story, don't do

it for the sake of just getting their names into a fic. When adding yourself

into a story, it has to benefit the actual plot. I like this fic and sincerely

hope that it puts and end to crappy fanfics. –CrazyNerdyFangirl

no, with the Fang thing, I ment full of cleches (me and my friends played the

flippy game. flip to a random page and find a plothole/cliche/OOCness)

ideas:

~put it in the right categories, if its a crossover, put it in the crossover

section so people dont get mad at you for including non-MR characters

~dont get mad at reveiws saying that they dont like your story, take them to

mind and use them to improve it.

~look through your story before you post it to make sure you havent mixed up

anything or strayed from the plotline

~once you put something in your summary, stick to it. thats what your reader

clicked for, give it to them

~don't use "text talk", this is a story, not a conversation through text

messages. you have as many letters as you need, use them.

~ (just for LOLZ) dont write drunk, it will make no sense

~ add humor, an entirely sad story wont get many readers

~ dont be afraid to use the backspace key, its there for a reason. **(A/N: Love this one! Also, use your entire keyboard. It's there for a reason!)**

~ use authors notes to explain stuff (like if its in the future, what their

ages are) and/or make comments about what people have said. They are an

invaluable tool. (made by typing authors notes in bold, for new people in the

Fanfiction community) **(A/N: Yup. Author's notes are really helpful and can be funny, so use them!)**

~if its a one-shot, say so in the summary. otherwise you will have people

thinking you are going to continue it when you arent.

thnks for putting mine in last time,

Peace

Love

Snickuz,

UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND

this is really helpful and you are totally right on the title and summary

thing. If i see messed up grammer or a simple spelling mistake that makes me

think the whole story is like that!

And thank you for pointing out the multiple Mary-Sue's, theres way to much of

that in the Maximum Ride Archive.

Anyways i just wanted to point out the REPEATED STORY-LINES! everyone is always

writing the same type of storys like the Flock going to High School or them

becoming a band. i mean there good story ideas but theres so many of them!

it's like no one has creativity anymore! **(A/N: In other words, don't use clichés.)**

thanks for reading my realy long review

hope i was help

-xXWriteItOutXx


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